Big 12 Women’s Basketball Power Rankings for Week 10
The Big 12 women’s basketball season is now 10 weeks old and after five games of league play we have some big movement in the power rankings.
After 10 weeks we are breaking these rankings up into four tiers. That’s because the movement in the conference has been definitive enough to require it. It’s not arbitrary. I think we now have four distinct tiers of teams in this league. What happened on Saturday only reinforced that.
Below we present our 10th Big 12 women’s basketball power rankings for the 2023-24 season and after three Big 12 games.
Tier One
1. Kansas State (17-1, 5-0) – Last Week — 2
2. Iowa State (12-4, 5-0) – Last Week — 5
Sometimes power rankings don’t require much thought. Kansas State and Iowa State are the only remaining undefeated teams in league play. Both are also playing the best basketball of any team in the league right now.
Everything is clicking for K-State, from Ayoka Lee’s return to Zyanna Walker’s burgeoning bench play. Plus, the Wildcats just beat last year’s Big 12 co-champions, Oklahoma and Texas, back-to-back. Any more questions for now?
Iowa State is the surprise. In the past six weeks this team has steadily gotten better. The Cyclones built on the backbone of a youth movement, but freshmen like Audi Crooks and Addy Brown are playing like they’ve been there forever. Mix that with vets like Emily Ryan, Nyamer Diew and Hannah Belanger and coach Bill Fennelly has one of his most intriguing teams in years.
Tier Two
3. Texas (16-2, 3-2) – Last Week — 3
4. Baylor (14-2, 3-2) – Last Week — 1
5. Oklahoma (10-6, 4-1) – Last Week — 4
6. West Virginia (14-2, 3-2) – Last Week — 6
7. Oklahoma State (10-6, 3-2) – Last Week — 8
Texas gets a slight nudge over Baylor. These are power rankings, not a full-season snapshot (sometimes I have to remind myself of that). This past week Texas went 1-1 and Baylor went 0-2. Plus the Bears did not look good in their loss to Kansas. Texas at least put forth a quality outing in its loss to Kansas State.
Oklahoma lost to Kansas State but handled Texas Tech. I think the Sooners may figure things out enough to be an NCAA Tournament team. Sahara Williams, OU’s talented freshman forward, has hit double digits in three straight games.
West Virginia fell on the road at Iowa State (there’s a lot of that going around) but bounced back by taking care of UCF. Oklahoma State has depth issues but Jacie Hoyt and her Cowgirls are showing some real grit. Emilee Ebert helps their depth issues. But OSU is the most likely team to fall off this tier next week.
Tier Three
8. Kansas (9-7, 2-3) – Last Week — 13
9. Houston (11-5, 2-3) – Last Week — 12
10. Texas Tech (13-5, 2-3) – Last Week — 7
Kansas finally looked like itself this past week. The Jayhawks upended No. 4 Baylor and outlasted Oklahoma State. Winning at home always helps. I’m not sure the Jayhawks have the runway to get what they to reach the NCAA Tournament. But, if Kansas plays like this the rest of the way, it will get some big wins that could help.
Great week for Houston. The Cougars won both games against BYU and TCU and got some momentum. It’s probably too much to ask to get 33 points out of Laila Blair every game, but the Cougars could use that against OU this week.
Oklahoma and Oklahoma State swept Texas Tech and the loss to the Cowgirls hurts. That’s a game the Lady Raiders needed. It’s one of those 50/50 games that could determine if Tech has the credentials to get into the NCAA Tournament.
Tier Four
11. TCU (14-4, 1-4) – Last Week — 9
12. BYU (11-7, 1-4) – Last Week — 10
13. Cincinnati (9-7, 1-4) – Last Week — 14
14. UCF (9-6, 0-5) – Last Week — 11
TCU has fallen hard without center Sedona Prince. The loss to Houston on Saturday was emblematic of it. It wasn’t a close loss, either. The Cougars won by 11. She might be the league’s Most Valuable Player if you’re doing it by subtraction.
BYU remains ahead of Cincinnati and UCF after the Cougars beat the Bearcats on Saturday. Cincinnati got its first Big 12 win over UCF on a buzzer-beater and UCF remains winless.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
